


Prologue & Ch. 1 - A Journey Begins

by Dunmeri



Series: Adventures in the Mages Guild [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: M/M, cute gay stuff, mostly plot, probably will get more risqué in future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 20:36:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12689784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunmeri/pseuds/Dunmeri
Summary: The first in a series following my ESO character Skyn's backstory with the Mage's Guild, with his partner Aeris (both OCs). Gayness and adventure, should be fun.





	Prologue & Ch. 1 - A Journey Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Setting:  
> 2E 576 (~7 years before the events of ESO)
> 
> Characters:
> 
> Skyn - full name is Elvaskyn Elenhul (but he goes by Skyn to everyone). He has dark grey skin, a hard lean body, angular features, and black eyes. 19 years old. Gifted in destruction magic and alchemy, he also enjoys woodworking and dabbling in illusion magic.
> 
> Aeris - Full name is Aeris Stormlock. His hair is white-gold, and his skin a golden bronze, also quite angular, but more soft where Skyn is rough. Very carefree personality. Best at restoration magic and alteration magic, also enjoys trying his best in enchanting but he’s terrible at it.

Prologue: 

 

Crazy how fast your life can change. Feels like just yesterday that I was in Vvardenfell, living on the family kwama farm and spending the afternoons practicing beginner spells with my parents, daydreaming about adventure… When I signed up with the Mages Guild, I had assumed they would just take advantage of my scholarly upbringing and stick me in one of the beautiful libraries of Vivec City to translate manuscripts (which would have also been amazing, I have to admit) but no! Here I am, halfway across the continent, exploring the Valenwood to follow up on leads about where ancient tomes might be. I guess the ability to read isn’t quite as valuable as being a decent spellcaster who can cast a strong clairvoyance spell.

When I arrived in the Valenwood a few months ago, I didn’t know anyone. Lucky for me, our private quarters were shared with a roommate. Even more lucky for me, my roommate ended up being Aeris Stormlock, a ridiculously cute high elf raised here in the Valenwood, with the cutest white-gold hair and sea-grey eyes set in his boy-ish golden face. Even moooooore lucky for me, we quickly discovered our mutual attraction, and have kept our beds pushed together ever since. I’m not sure if my parents would approve of our intimate relationship (on account of him not being Dunmeri), but they will just have to get over their superiority complex.

Aeris comes from a less than typical family of high elves and his parents are happy for us. His family left the Summerset Isles before he was born, to explore the Valenwood and research its unique energies. They abandoned the traditions and lifestyle of the Altmer, choosing instead to live more like civilized Bosmer. Aeris got to be raised amongst these incredible trees, with Bosmer neighbours and his adventurous parents. His personality reflects it too, I’ve never met a more light-hearted, care-free Altmer. 

While Aeris is probably my favourite part of the Valenwood scenery, it’s hard to believe that somewhere this beautiful exists. Growing up we were always told that Vvardenfell is home to the most dynamic landscape in Tamriel, but now that I’ve lived in Elden Root, I don’t know how we can pretend to claim that. The massive tree rivals the red mountain in height, and it’s alive. If it weren’t for the insects it would be perfect. First time I went for a walk around the root district I almost fainted when a hoarver burrowed out of the ground a few paces ahead of me. Thank the Three that a man was walking close behind me and loosed an arrow at it, cause I had no idea they would eat your face off if you let them get too close. But yes, apart from some of the wildlife, this place is perfect. Every day is a new adventure for me, Aeris, and the rest of the Mages Guild.

 

 

Ch.1

 

“Will you hurry uuuuuup” I hear Aeris calling from up ahead, “we are almost there you slowpoke!”

Laughing, I try to pick up my pace and catch up to him. “Which of us is carrying all the equipment and both of our staves, hmmmm?” I feign mock annoyance, but he cracks a sheepish grin and I can’t maintain the ruse. 

“I need my hands free to maintain this clairvoyance spell, I’m still not great at doing it one-handed – not like you, you prodigy.”

“Prodigy” I laugh, “I’m not sure I can call myself a prodigy when you had to spend three weeks teaching me how to cast a simple oakflesh spell, and when I finally succeeded in casting it I made my arm so stiff it couldn’t move for the rest of the night!” Remembering that incident got us both laughing.

“Or when you tried to cast candlelight the first time and we could all swear that the room actually got _darker _\- I guess alteration magic isn’t your strong suit” Aeris giggled.__

__“Oh man, you don’t have to tell me twice, give me an illusion or destruction spell over alteration any day. But getting back to *your* weaknesses, the key to a strong clairvoyance spell is how hard you focus on what it is that you want – you don’t need to try and force more magicka into the spell, just relax and keep a razor-sharp mental image of what you want most.”_ _

__Aeris stopped at the crest of the hill, and looked back at me thoughtfully. “Maybe I should try re-casting with that in mind.” He raised one hand in front of him and murmured the spell, and it worked! A dim trail of light appeared from his hand leading right… into my pants. Typical._ _

__As I reach the top of the hill, he grabs my hand - cutting off the spell - and pulls me in for a kiss, pressing me against a nearby tree. He presses me up against the trunk, grinding into me, pushing me into the tree so that I can feel the shape of the bark along my back through my thin mage’s robes._ _

___“Oh man, now he’s done it” _I say to myself as our bags fall to the ground from my shoulder _“Im gonna have to take him right here in the woods.” ______ _

______“Hold on,” says Aeris as he pulls away from the kiss, “we have a quest to go finish, we should get moving.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“It’s not like the ruins are going anywhere, I’m sure they can wait a few minutes… or hours.” I wrap my left arm around his waist pulling him in tight against me, and place my right hand softly behind his head, pulling him in for another kiss. With a smile, Aeris twists his way out of my arms, stooping to pick up the gear that I dropped when he grabbed me._ _ _ _ _ _

______“ I’ll make it up to you tonight, but I’d rather not get Magister Gabin angry with us again for getting sidetracked on a simple journey. If we’re not careful he might get us re-assigned.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Aw c’mon Aeris, you know he would never do that. He seems tough but he only gets upset cause he worries about everyone when they aren’t home on time. He’s a big softie. But you make a solid point, I can get more fun out of you if we’re in the comfort of our room rather than the middle of the woods. Now let’s go find this tome and get home.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Once over the hill, we quickly reached our destination – the entrance to an Ayleid ruin, almost completely buried beneath thick roots and vines from the surrounding trees. Without a clairvoyance spell it’s unlikely that anyone would pick out this mossy stone door from the surrounding environment. With a deep breath, Aeris opens the seal to the ruins, and I feel the rumble of moving stone beneath my feet as the path clears before us._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Alright”, I whisper, “We get in, we get out.” Magister Gavin warned us that these ruins are likely connected to the larger network of Ayleid ruins the guild has been excavating for the past fortnight. Despite precautions, two guild members were now in the infirmary after a spectre materialized and cast them into a frenzy. “We are not taking chances today.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You got it boss” replied Aeris, as he carefully stepped through the threshold, beginning our descent down the long, dark staircase. The chamber smelled of wet stone and mildew, but there was also a thick quality to it, like a sauna without the heat. I cast a quick magelight spell to illuminate our path as Aeris focused his attention on maintaining his clairvoyance. At the base of the staircase a long hallway stretched forward, with a single chair placed at the far end facing towards us._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Creepy” I mutter to Aeris, getting an unsure smile and nod in return. Aeris guided us into a room a mere 10 paces from the staircase, a small alcove off to the left. Inside the small room was an old alchemy station, empty bottles filled the tables, and withered herbs hung from the low-hanging ceiling. I noticed some Elves ears and dried nightshade that were reasonably well preserved so I took some clippings of them while Aeris searched for our tome. The clairvoyance spell was aiming under a desk, to a small stone lockbox._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Thank the Three” mumbled Aeris as he picked up the box and laid it out on the table. On closer inspection, the box was covered in thin etchings, engraved at every angle. “Skyn, it won’t open.. do you think these are glyphs?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“They don’t look like any I’ve ever seen, not that I’m a huge expert. You’re the one who’s always trying to engrave our staffs.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Aeris furrowed his brow and inspected the box closely “I don’t recognize any of them either, they look almost like a pattern rather than a language. I guess we’ll just have to bring the whole box back to the guild, I don’t think we’re skilled enough to deal with this without putting the contents of the box at risk.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Agreed.” I reply, as I rummaged through a dresser looking for more potential alchemy ingredients. By the divines, Aeris, look at this!” Spinning around, I reveal a jar that’s glowing with a pale light. “A whole jar of Luna Moth Wings, just sitting here in this old tomb!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Aeris starts laughing at my excitement, “Keep it down, you luna moth, we don’t want something to hear us down here.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______As he finished the sentence a slight gust of air pushed his hair to the side and my heart sank. I was too loud, something had heard us. Aeris noticed my reaction and realized my concern – there was no source of wind in an underground crypt. Grabbing the lockbox and the jar we run out of the room back towards the stairs. I glanced back to look down the hallway and the chair was no longer empty. A hooded spectre now sat, unmoving, watching us retreat. I make the mistake of looking into its face and the moment our eyes meet, a searing pain spreads between my eyes and around my temples. I try to erect a ward but it is too late. My knees buckled beneath me and I let out a scream of pain. Within a heartbeat, Aeris reached back to grab my wrist, and half-pulled me up the stairs behind him._ _ _ _ _ _

______The pain doesn’t recede when we reach the surface. I’m on the ground, I don’t remember how I got there. Aeris is speaking to me but I can’t hear anything over the pain clawing its way through my brain, touching pieces of my mind and searing them with rage and pain. I force my eyes open and see Aeris with his furrowed brows, muttering something repeatedly. Then I feel the warm yellow light emitting from his hands and the pain becomes quieter. Continuing to cast the spell with one hand, Aeris reaches into his bag and pulls out a small blue vial, and quickly guzzles the magicka potion down mid-spell. I’m not sure how much time passes, but the sky is dark when Aeris releases the spell and my mind has eased to a dull headache._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Close one” I say, half-chuckling and half-gasping._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Fuck you” Aeris responds with a smile, laying himself down beside me on the cool moss bed a few paces from the re-sealed entrance to the ruins. “You’re lucky your boyfriend is stellar at restoration magic and has already mastered some more advanced spells.”  
“I noticed you were even casting it double-handed most of the time. Was that the Healing Hands spell? You must be so exhausted”. I look at Aeris more closely and see in his eyes the toll that the magic has had on him. He is more mentally tired than he is letting me see. “We should get you home.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Aeris laughs in earnest, “get meeeeee home? Who is the one who almost died cause he wanted to get a glimpse of what we were running from?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Guilty as charged” I chuckle back._ _ _ _ _ _

______We pick each other up and start our walk back to Elden Root. With any luck, we’ll be home before they stop serving dinner at the guild hall._ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fan fic type thing, so let me know what you think and if you liked it haha, I'll be writing more when I can!


End file.
